Greece: 320 mm of rain per 6 hours, 7 dead (including a baby)

The round of severe storms, which started on last Sunday and Monday 2.-3. August in West Europe and Alpine region, have finished very tragically, when last effects of cold front, which bringing severe storms and floods over Italy, Alps and western Balkan, brought to Greece from Saturday to Sunday 7-8. August at midnight anomalously extreme storms, with precipitation amount 320 mm (comparable with Indian monsoon!).

Greece’s meteorological service said parts of Evia saw rainfall that reached 320 millimeters (more than 12 inches), some 86% of the annual rainfall for the area, which is only about 375 millimeters (14.8 inches), usually with negligible rain during the summer.

This flash flood was deadly and has left behind 7 dead people, including a little baby, more than 10 injuries and thousands of damaged houses in Evia region, the island, north-east of Athens, Greece. The flooding has blocked roads and damaged houses. Officials said the baby died after floodwaters submerged a ground-floor flat. The parents were unharmed.

Flooding wave was so strong, that took with it everything what stayed in its way: “We are faced with phenomena that we haven’t experienced before” told Greek Prime Minister after catastrophe. A river burst through its banks and flooded part of Politika, forcing many residents to climb to the rooftops of their homes. Another river in the village of Bourtzi also burst its banks. Authorities estimated that 3,000 residences had been partially or totally damaged by floodwaters and police said many local roads are impassible.

Heavy rain started falling at about midnight Saturday and firefighters responded to over 50 fires caused by lightning. By late afternoon Sunday, 97 people had been safely evacuated from their homes and cars, 30 of them by helicopter, and over 600 homes had been drained of floodwaters, the fire service said.

For better preparedness to similar losses, you can watch Mkweather warnings on our homepage or /https://mkweather.com/warnings; https://mkweather.com/warnings-2-day/; https://mkweather.com/warnings-3-day//. Before the severe storms, we had predicted red – 3/3 level of warnings for Greece (and southern Balkan countries) a few days before /https://mkweather.com/warnings-archive//.